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Main » Articles » B/U/G, Part 2

B/U/G, Part 2

Jarvis Yu
Posted on January 3, 2013
 Reddit

This past Sunday at Grand Prix: Indianapolis, I went a disappointing 6–3 (losing Round 9 to miss Day 2) in the Sealed Deck event. However, not all was lost because there was a Legacy side event on Sunday for a foil set of Return to Ravnica.

One hour before the event was about to start, I noticed there were quite a few big-name players in the event, including Gerry Thompson, Ari “TENDRILS YOU” Lax, Chris Andersen, Andrew “THE JOHNNY HOT SAUCE” Shrout (Magic Online Championship Series winner), Matt Hoey, Alex Binek (winner of U.S. World Magic Cup Qualifier), and Scott “Merfolk Is the Only Tribe” Barrentine.

I chose to play the following Shardless Agent B/U/G list:

"Shadless Agent B/U/G"

Etched Champion
Round 1: Win versus Metalworker, Kuldotha Forgemaster combo (with Lightning Greaves) (2–1)

Round 2: Win versus blue Affinity (Master of Etherium, Thoughtcast, and sideboarded Etched Champion) (2–1). I managed to win Game 1 but lost Game 2 to three Etched Champions in a row. If you're worried about Etched Champion a lot, you can play two Engineered Plagues on Soldier to kill them. I won Game 3 after he stumbled on lands, and I easily took control.

Round 3: Win versus Goblins (2-1). I managed to win Game 1 after he flooded out. Game 2, I mulled to five and was still in it to draw an Engineered Plague to stabilize. Game 3 was interesting. My opponent mulliganed to five, and then I engineered a Plague on turn three, but was locked down under three Rishadan Ports for a while until I finally drew some lands to Life from the Loam back other lands and cast a second Plague. The game was kind of precarious since my black sources kept dying to Wasteland in addition to being on lockdown by Rishadan Port, but I had access to Darkblast as well to kill most 2-toughness guys.

Round 4: Loss to The Extended Storm (Ari Lax) (0–2). Having sideboarded Force of Will instead of having it main-decked is a giant joke here.

Deathrite Shaman
Round 5: Win over Esper Stoneforge (Matt Hoey) (2–1). We played three interesting games. He cast Cabal Therapy on me in Game 2 for Liliana of the Veil when it should have been mostly clear that she was no longer in my deck because of Lingering Souls. I managed to lock him down under Wasteland and Life from the Loam (although I missed a turn of this) to keep him off Supreme Verdict, which let my two copies of Deathrite Shaman deal a large amount of damage to kill him despite his Snapcaster Mage equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine.

Round 6: Draw with Scott Barrentine (Merfolk). Scott Barrentine once beat me in the 10–0 bracket of GP: Denver (Lorwyn Block Constructed) as Merfolk.

Quarterfinals: Loss to R/U/G (Andrew Shrout). This guy plays a lot of Magic Online, so he's pretty solid, although he's not that familiar with Legacy. Mostly, he didn't know that you shouldn't play a lot of lands out as R/U/G (although it's less true in this matchup because of Wasteland). I lost 0–2, but I think the matchup is still more than fine. Sylvan Library did me in both times if I recall correctly.

Suggestions for the Future

With the rise of Shardless B/U/G, I like having a Misdirection and Life from the Loam somewhere. I’m not certain all the copies of Umezawa's Jitte are needed (shaving down to one is probably fine). As Gerry noted last Sunday while watching a match of mine: “Nice basic Island.” Basic lands can hurt you in subtle ways since the color requirements of the deck are somewhat steep (g, bb, and uu are the requirements), and it’s not as though you can completely play around a Wasteland anyway. Sower of Temptation is a card that seems as though it might have value in B/U/G mirrors because of the scarcity of removal for a 4-mana creature. It still doesn’t line up well with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, but it is certainly worth considering.

I also foresee combo being on the rise (thanks, Ari!), so we probably can’t skimp on Force of Wills in the main. Plus, if someone is playing me and “knows” I don’t have Force of Will in my main deck, the surprise factor is a big deal.

These changes lead us to an updated B/U/G list:

"Updated B/U/G"

I would highly recommend this list still, and I think this style of B/U/G is definitely the style that suits me the best.

Other Decks

If you don’t want to play B/U/G-style attrition decks, might I suggest trying to make people dead with TES or High Tide?

"Ari Lax’s TES"

I think most often, this deck wins with a fast Infernal Tutor for Ad Nauseam or by just casting Empty the Warrens on turn two or three for a bunch of Goblins. Abrupt Decay gives the deck a powerful weapon to fight its formerly worst matchup (Miracles).

Besides that, I would recommend goldfishing the deck a bunch (Level 1), then playing against R/U/G (Level 2), and then playing against Counterbalance Miracles (Level 3). R/U/G and Counterbalance are potentially equally difficult, but they present different types of problems to play through.

"High Tide"

High Tide
High Tide is a slower but more resilient (and arguably easier) to play combo deck. Its matchup against B/U/G should be quite good, especially if you sandbag Candelabra of Tawnos so it does not get Abrupt Decayed until you generate value from it. Meditate helps you recover from all of the opponent’s discard, and Shardless B/U/G can’t really afford to play taxing counters such as Daze or Spell Pierce. Multiple Hymn to Tourachs can be irritating, but Meditate and Blue Sun's Zenith (to some degree) help you recover, not to mention the fact that a top-decked Time Spiral with six lands in play lets you recover fully.

 

I wish all of you the best of luck in Grand Prix: Denver or any Modern Pro Tour Qualifiers you may be playing in this weekend.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any comments here or on Twitter @jkyu06.

TAGS articles, constructed, legacy, decklists, modern, jarvis yu, recap

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